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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

Teachers at school want us to wake up in the morning like roosters, be as strong as lions, carry heavy school bags like donkeys, be as diligent as ants, copy from the board like monkeys, learn the material and remember what we learned like parrots, and be quiet like fish. And then they still complain that we behave like animals…

TO BEGIN WITH A STORY

This coming Shabbos marks the 166th birthday of the Rebbe Rashab, born on 20 Cheshvan 5621. As a regular custom, the Rebbe MH’M would almost every year tell the well-known story about the special connection between Parshas Vayeira, and the Rebbe Rashab. In the Rebbe’s words:

“When my father [the Rebbe Rashab] was four or five years old, he went in to his grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek, on Shabbos Kodesh, Parshas Vayeira, and began to cry, saying: Why did G-d appear to Avrohom Avinu yet He does not appear to us?

“The Tzemach Tzedek answered him: When a righteous Jew, at the age of ninety-nine, decides that he must circumcise himself, he deserves that the Holy One, blessed be He, reveal Himself to him.” (Hayom Yom, 9 Cheshvan)

This story received much attention and wonderful elucidation from the Rebbe on many occasions. One of the central lessons the Rebbe learned from this story is the importance of educating children, and the special power given specifically in our generation to educate children on an entirely different level. Until the publication of this story by the previous Rebbe, the approach to education was based on the words of Rambam (Pirush HaMishnayos, beginning of chapter Chelek), that one should encourage and motivate a child to learn Torah and fulfill mitzvos through “things that are beloved to him in his young years.” As an example, Rambam cites what was common in his time: “Read, and I will give you nuts.” It is reasonable to assume that today, nuts would not cause any child to sit and learn Torah, but perhaps a chocolate bar or an ice cream cone would do the trick. Why can’t we expect a Jewish child to learn Torah for its own sake, without any other purpose?

Rambam goes on to explain that because of “the fewness of his years and the weakness of his intellect, he does not understand the value of that good.” A small child does not enjoy learning Torah, and he finds in it no taste or worth. He wants nuts, or alternatively, chocolate. Rambam is telling us: “Give the child chocolate, as long as he learns, and then he will come to understand on his own that learning is the ultimate good.” Today, the tables have turned, and human nature has changed. This story teaches us about the “opening of a channel” that is new. Today, it is possible to educate a Jewish child, even under the age of six, so that G-dliness will be a significant part of his life. So significant that when he lacks a revelation of G-dliness, he will cry about it!

Yes, instead of chocolate and ice cream, or nuts, we can educate a Jewish child today in the way of the Rebbe Rashab, to want spirituality, to want G-dliness, with a passion so immense that it brings him to tears!

It all depends on us, and on the education we give our children. If we speak to them about spirituality and G-dliness, with words that come from the heart, they will enter the heart of every child, and the words will have an effect on him.

But we can learn not only from the tears of the Rebbe Rashab, but also from the answer of his grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek. The Tzemach Tzedek answered his grandson that a Jew must always circumcise himself, and remove the concealment and hiddenness of the world. A Jewish child must know not to be afraid of the world. True, the world is dark, the world is gloomy, the world conceals G-dliness, but we have the power to change it. Through a firm and strong decision to withstand the challenges that confront us in daily life, we are able to change our surroundings and bring about a revelation of G-dliness in the world.

NOW ANOTHER STORY

Exactly fifty years ago, in the year 5737, the 20th of Cheshvan fell on Shabbos Parshas Vayeira, and the Rebbe told another story about the Rebbe Rashab in his childhood, from which we can also learn a great deal.

Here is the story: When the Rebbe Rashab was four years old, the tailor once brought a garment that had been sewn for his mother, Rebbetzin Rivkah. While the garment was being fitted, the young Rebbe Rashab innocently pulled a piece of fabric out of the tailor’s pocket. It was the fabric from which the garment had been sewn, which Rebbetzin Rivkah had purchased, and the tailor was supposed to return the leftover fabric to the Rebbetzin. The tailor was embarrassed and apologized, saying he had forgotten that a piece of fabric remained in his possession. After the tailor left the house, the mother rebuked her son for having shamed the tailor and caused his face to turn pale. The words penetrated the heart of the little boy, and he wept bitterly.

A few weeks later, the Rashab went in to his father, the Rebbe Maharash, and asked how one can rectify the sin of shaming someone. The Maharash asked his son: Why do you want to know? The Rashab answered casually that he was simply interested, and he did not tell his father about the incident with the tailor. The mother, who heard about what had happened and about the exchange between her husband, the Maharash, and her son, the Rashab, turned to her son on another occasion and asked him: Why didn’t you tell your father the whole story? The Rashab answered: Isn’t it enough that I stumbled in the sin of shaming someone? Do you want me to stumble also in slander and gossip?!

At first glance, this was not a serious case of shaming. After all, the Rebbe Rashab did it innocently, with no malicious intent, and moreover, it was not done in public; only Rebbetzin Rivkah was there, and no one else. And still, the knowledge that pain, shame, and humiliation had been caused to another Jew bothered the Rebbe so much that he cried!

The pain and the tears were not over the fact that he had sinned; the pain and the tears were over the fact that a Jew had been humiliated. Therefore, the Rebbe Rashab refused to tell his father, the Maharash, about it, despite the mitzva of honoring one’s father that was at stake, because he could not bear that a Jew should suffer shame. He did not think of himself; he thought of someone else; he thought of the good of another, without taking himself into account. From this too, the Rebbe learns an important lesson in the education of children: that today the channel has been opened to educate children to think of others, and to want the good of others over their own personal good. The capacity for devotion to others, and love and caring for one another, must penetrate the heart of every Jewish man and woman, through proper education, with words that come from the heart of the educator, and then they will enter the heart of the one being educated.

TO CONCLUDE WITH A GEULA MESSAGE

And what is the connection to the Geula?

There is well-known explanation of Ramban (on Bereishis 18:25) on the words of the Navi (Yirmiyahu 31:20), “Set up for yourself road-markers,” that this is “in order that they will not be new to us when we return to the Land.” In the time of exile, all the Torah and mitzvos we fulfill are in the category of “road-markers,” mere signposts. That is to say, in the time of exile, everything we do is only in the category of chinuch, education and training! We are educating ourselves to learn Torah and fulfill mitzvos, so that when the time comes and the Geula arrives, we will know what to fulfill and how to fulfill it, because we have already been trained in the observance of mitzvos during the exile. This is also the intention of the Rebbe Maharash in his well-known discourse “V’kacha,” delivered 150 years ago, that only in the future will we be able to fulfill the mitzvos “as You desire,” exactly as the Hashem wants, because today our fulfillment of the mitzvos is only in the category of education. We are training for the real thing, for the fulfillment of the mitzvos in the Geula.

So if all of our Torah and mitzvos are only in the category of chinuch, we can understand the great importance of Mivtza Chinuch in bringing about the Geula!

Good Shabbos!

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